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[Riverdaleswhiteflash]

 

That's a rather senseless logic.

Mentally diseased people are mentally diseased peoplewhile mages aren't abominations by default.

So what you're saying is that abominations are mentally unstable not mages.

 

In this comparison, mages are mentally unstable. It's just that they're not actively in the middle of a psychotic break. That is what abominations should be compared to: mentally ill people who are in the process of actively losing the battle with it.

 

 

@Riverdaleswhiteflash, it's fine to make whatever comparisons you want, there are a lot of interesting parallels to make... I'm just explaining why I don't agree, because I see different ones.

You're not going to get a complete picture unless you see all of them and know exactly where and to what extent each one fails to capture the reality of the situation. (Because they ultimately all do.)

 

 

I still don't think I would agree with mass institutionalization of the mentally ill though.

Forced quartintine for those afflicted with deadly contageous diseases? That's an interesting debate, but outside of mages with the blight, I don't really see it here. Plus anyone can get the blight.

The thing is that neither of those is a perfect analogy. A mentally ill person might or might not tap into more strength than an entirely sane person could use (I'm not sure, I'm not an expert) but they're still limited to what a human body can do. If they do snap, a normal civilian has a chance of defending themselves from the mentally ill person, and the cops can almost certainly handle things even if the normal civilians can't. Therefore, they can be mostly safely let into the general population unless there's a specific reason to think they're at a imminent risk of snapping.

 

A person with a sufficiently contagious and deadly physical illness is a better analogy for the danger they present, since abominations can kill more people than a mentally ill person can and can even put demons into other people and cause them to become dangerous. Though even that's not a completely sound analogy since with training a mage can limit their risk of doing all of that.

 

 

Magic is a natural part of the world and people should really stop to see it as a form of disease

I don't think that really answered the grounds I cited for that comparison.

 

 

I prefer to continue this discussion here, where is more ...civilized than in that other thread .

Yes, there are similarities, but one must not forget that there are degrees of mental health and therefore danger to society. A society that locked up every person with some kind mental diagnose would be extremely inhuman. The same applies to magic: I don't agree to locking up every mage just because some have turned out to be dangerous.

Besides, there are signs for those who can see them, ie. professionals, to react and take measurements before things "blow up". No need to - and both highly immoral and in fact dangerous in itself as I see it - to lock people up that haven't actually done anything yet.

To some degree, they are all dangerous. The first First Enchanter of Kirkwall went abomination, and to all appearances she did so despite not wanting to. And if a First Enchanter can lose the battle, pretty much anyone can.

 

Now I admit that not all mages need to be locked up all the time. My favorite example is that Wynne, Velanna, and Anders all had the run of Amaranthine, and even if that city winds up a smoking ruin that's not any of their fault. But unless there's an actual reason for them to be out and about right then, I'd rather they were either in the Circle, or in a Grey Warden base (which is almost as good since my main reason for thinking a mage should be surrounded by mages and templars is that mages and templars have some chance of defending themselves from an abomination.)

[Fiskrens]

Who are this professionals if i may ask?
From what i know  abominations cannot be identified unless they are on a killing rampage.
Nobody noticed the templars abominations both in DAI and in DA2
 
edit also i think that  there are no similarity since mages are not mental diseased people Lol

Um... I made it sound like that, didn't I? No mages aren't mentally diseased per default. But society should take some measures to prevent potential dangers.

As for professionals, I was under the impression that both higher mages and templars would be able to see that, at least most of the time. That those cases we've seen in-game were of the extreme kind that no one can predict, much less prevent.

[Riverdaleswhiteflash]

What's the definition of unwilling though? The mages in DA2 were under threat of immediate death.. they were desperate and stressed and probably intentionally called upon help... hence the demons. While the mages Uldred was torturing were similar... but probably being pushed and coaxed with blood magic too.

 

Anders is another type of abomination, but that was sheer stupidity on his part.

 

How much of this stuff just happens out of the blue?

My understanding is that most possessions don't happen out of the blue. I think we're meant to conclude that it usually happens when the mage is under some sort of stress that prevents them from resisting as strongly as they should. Examples would likely include starvation, lynch mobs, Tevinter slaver gangs, and yeah, probably templar action. (Especially if done the way Kirkwall does it.)

 

The thing is that if templar action causes it, at least there's templars right there. And if it happens in a circle, at least the new abomination is surrounded by mages and templars. A mage who goes abomination because they're starving or being attacked by a lynch mob is probably surrounded by mundanes, and even if the lynch mob deserves it the abomination is probably going to get some mundanes that don't before being put down. (Maybe even after, if the abomination lights fires in a city.) Besides, it's not like templars that are well aware of the danger of a mage reacting poorly can't try making the circles more palatable. A major reason things all fell apart is because Meredith and Lambert didn't bother with PR.

[Secret Rare]

In this comparison, mages are mentally unstable. It's just that they're not actively in the middle of a psychotic break. That is what abominations should be compared to: mentally ill people who are in the process of actively losing the battle with it.

 

 

 

 Mages aren't mentally unstable by default,abominations are mentally unstable and everyone can become an abomination including non mages.

Some abominations like revenants are as dangerous(if not more)than a mage,so now we should lock every person in a tower for life and burn every corpses because they are all a threat.

[Riverdaleswhiteflash]

 Mages aren't mentally unstable by default,abominations are mentally unstable and everyone can become an abomination including non mages.

Some abominations like revenants are as dangerous(if not more)than a mage,so now we should lock every person in a tower for life and burn every corpses because they are all a threat.

A: "Abomination" in this setting means "possessed mage." They are distinct from other types of possessed creature in that most of them only have the demon's magic to fall back on. Abominations have extra power due to having lucked into a magical host. (Yes, I'm aware that the game labeled the possessed Templars in DA2 as "abominations," but if you think about it all that really is is Varric calling them that, and he's known to stretch things.)

B: Mages are more likely to get possessed, in that they have more contact with the Fade than an ordinary person does. Not to mention that they're the ones who have an easiest time summoning a demon even if they don't intend to get possessed, and that once you've summoned a demon you might find that your intentions matter less than its intentions do.

C: You are aware, I hope, that the most prominent culture in this setting practices cremation?

[Jedi Master of Orion]

This might be true, but it is not the impression I got - or wanted - throughout DA.  It is not why I originally thought I liked their magic and mage system.  

 

What I believe - is that people have become so caught up on these forums with projecting on the Chantry and the mages their personal lives - that they want to believe that the Chantry is always lying and always evil. 

 

I believe mages were very inherently dangerous in DA:O.  I believe almost every prominent mage in DA:O failed catastrophically.  Jowan, Zathrian, Avernus, Uldred, Connor, Wilhem, the mage "Mouse" is imitating... and most of them to demons.  I believe that it is not incorrect to say what DA was stating very clearly about being a mage... and I liked it. 

 

Now I believe it to be changed to represent a more "superhero" type mage... and I'm not interested.  

 

Then it kinda sounds to me that you missed a large part of what DAO was trying to say because you wanted Bioware's message to explicitly be that mages are too dangerous to be free. Because that wasn't the impression I got from the game.

 

In addition to the examples you named, there are many mages in DAO that didn't catastrophically turn to demons. Lanaya, Wynne, Irving, Aneirin, Morrigan, the Origins versions of Marethari and Merril, etc. 

 

I actually don't think you're too far off base with the fans' perception of the Chantry (in many cases anyway), but since Bioware usually seems to try for moral ambiguity, I don't think they were trying to tell us that every mage was a failure and disasters are inevitable. 

 

One can certainly make a case that magic is so destructive that even a few failures make restrictions necessary, but I still think it's meant to be an arguable point either way.

[Sah291]

@Riverdaleswhiteflash,

A comparison with mentally ill doesn't really have any modern day basis, unless I suppose you are going to compare magic with guns, and abominations with mass shooters, etc. I've seen that comparison before. But I think there is a more fitting historical comparison in that people used to believe in spiritual causes (demons, etc) for mental illnesses, diseases, and other afflictions. This is related to the idea of miasma I guess. So that makes mages some sort of untouchable underclass, who caused the blight (plague). I do see that theme a little bit, mostly in Origins.

Magic isn't really treated as being something contagious...especially considering mages are born with magic. But then again, some people see them as like LGBT or other groups that society has tried to cloister away or "cure" with religion, drugs, etc. I can see some of that too.

But I still find mages as occultists the biggest one that makes the most sense, without projecting too many things that the writers may not have intended. Mages as mages, basically.

[Riverdaleswhiteflash]

@Riverdaleswhiteflash,

A comparison with mentally ill doesn't really have any modern day basis, unless I suppose you are going to compare magic with guns, and abominations with mass shooters, etc. I've seen that comparison before. But I think there is a more fitting historical comparison in that people used to believe in spiritual causes (demons, etc) for mental illnesses, diseases, and other afflictions. This is related to the idea of miasma I guess. So that makes mages some sort of untouchable underclass, who caused the blight (plague). I do see that theme a little bit, mostly in Origins.

Magic isn't really treated as being something contagious...especially considering mages are born with magic. But then again, some people see them as like LGBT or other groups that society has tried to cloister away or "cure" with religion, drugs, etc. I can see some of that too.

But I still find mages as occultists the biggest one that makes the most sense, without projecting too many things that the writers may not have intended. Mages as mages, basically.

... I thought I'd explained the basis of the comparison. I've seen you and Secret Rare saying it doesn't work, but I don't think either of you have explained why my arguments don't work. Or at least why they didn't work as well as I'd said, since again: the mages in this setting are as far as I can tell unique. Thanks to the whole "abomination" thing there's nothing I know of in other settings that quite compares.

 

The reason the "mages as occultists" thing doesn't work all that well, for example, is that magic just isn't something you learn in this setting. It's something you are. A mage who doesn't study isn't a muggle, he's a mage who lacks control. It's sort of like the idea of a sorcerer in Dungeons and Dragons, though even then the "abomination" thing is a big difference. Yeah, sure, a mage who studies his powers can be considered as similar to an occultist, but even then there's still the thing where he is magical rather than merely having studied magic. (And, not to beat a dead horse, the thing where if he slips he can go abomination.)

[Sah291]

@Riverdaleswhiteflash, it's not that I don't think it works as a comparison at all, clearly people are seeing something there, it just isn't what stands out to me. Mental illness and emotional distress isn't shown to be something unique to mages.

And yeah it is still a fictional setting and game, but it's not unhead of for people to believe they were past down a talent from parents, etc.

Patrick Weekes kinda threw cold water on the idea of magic being genetic when he explained why there were no half elves, IMO... So regardless what Tevinter elite believe about pure magical blood lines... It's probably more to do with being nobility than being mages. I guess we'll see when we learn more.

[eyezonlyii]

@Riverdaleswhiteflash, it's not that I don't think it works as a comparison at all, clearly people are seeing something there, it just isn't what stands out to me. Mental illness and emotional distress isn't shown to be something unique to mages.

And yeah it is still a fictional setting and game, but it's not unhead of for people to believe they were past down a talent from parents, etc.

Patrick Weekes kinda threw cold water on the idea of magic being genetic when he explained why there were no half elves, IMO... So regardless what Tevinter elite believe about pure magical blood lines... It's probably more to do with being nobility than being mages. I guess we'll see when we learn more.

Magic isn't genetic? What was the quote if you don't mind me asking.

[Riverdaleswhiteflash]

@Riverdaleswhiteflash, it's not that I don't think it works as a comparison at all, clearly people are seeing something there, it just isn't what stands out to me. Mental illness and emotional distress isn't shown to be something unique to mages.

And yeah it is still a fictional setting and game, but it's not unhead of for people to believe they were past down a talent from parents, etc.

Patrick Weekes kinda threw cold water on the idea of magic being genetic when he explained why there were no half elves, IMO... So regardless what Tevinter elite believe about pure magical blood lines... It's probably more to do with being nobility than being mages. I guess we'll see when we learn more.

I looked up the actual quote, and it says that "half-elves" give no genetic material to a human child, as evidenced by the fact that half-elves cannot produce elven children. I think what's your trying to say is that if the same thing was in play with mages, where a mage cannot pass down the "magic gene" to a mundane, then no non-mage would be able to produce a mage child?

 

The problem is that that happens. The Trevelyan family, for example, produces mages despite the fact that any members who do turn out to be mages are removed. Meanwhile Isolde apparently had a mage grandfather who she inherited it from, and despite being a non-mage herself and the father of her child apparently being a non-mage (though wouldn't that be a plot-twist?) Connor had magic.

 

I feel like I must be missing part of your logic, so could you give a more detailed explanation please?

 

Edit: One thing I should point out is that it probably isn't literally genetic, since Dorian states that it can happen outside these families. However, it running in families really does seem to be the way it usually works. And at any rate I just don't see the connection between the Weekes quote and what we're trying to puzzle out here.

[Secret Rare]

A: "Abomination" in this setting means "possessed mage." They are distinct from other types of possessed creature in that most of them only have the demon's magic to fall back on. Abominations have extra power due to having lucked into a magical host. (Yes, I'm aware that the game labeled the possessed Templars in DA2 as "abominations," but if you think about it all that really is is Varric calling them that, and he's known to stretch things.)

 

C: You are aware, I hope, that the most prominent culture in this setting practices cremation?

This criteria is overly selective and it applies some restrictions of definitions that neglect the demon and put emphasis only on the mage.

Abominations are mentally unstable people and such persons are also non-mages who are possessed  by very powerful demons.

You  created a restriction on the definition of the word abomination that neglect the demon and put emphasis  on the mage.

 

I'm aware that during wars the veil become thin and that the thousands of dead persons don't always receive a burial,they remain on the battlefield and are hunted by demons who turn them into Revenants creatures that have nothing to envy to mage-abominations

 

In short mages aren't in circles because they are mentally unstable,they are there because they(especially when they are children)can do unconsciously harm to others like Wynne.

[Sah291]

I looked up the actual quote, and it says that "half-elves" give no genetic material to a human child, as evidenced by the fact that half-elves cannot produce elven children. I think what's your trying to say is that if the same thing was in play with mages, where a mage cannot pass down the "magic gene" to a mundane, then no non-mage would be able to produce a mage child?

The problem is that that happens. The Trevelyan family, for example, produces mages despite the fact that any members who do turn out to be mages are removed. Meanwhile Isolde apparently had a mage grandfather who she inherited it from, and despite being a non-mage herself and the father of her child apparently being a non-mage (though wouldn't that be a plot-twist?) Connor had magic.

I feel like I must be missing part of your logic, so could you give a more detailed explanation please?

Edit: One thing I should point out is that it probably isn't literally genetic, since Dorian states that it can happen outside these families. However, it running in families really does seem to be the way it usually works. And at any rate I just don't see the connection between the Weekes quote and what we're trying to puzzle out here.

Yes, Weekes said in another tweet part of that same conversation that it was a magickal process.

What makes one an elf isn't genetic, but there is a magical/spiritual/cultural component. Solas seems to confirm this view, in his convos with the elven Inquisitor.

David Gaider also explained once before that the reason elves lost their magic, was not because of mixing with humans, but because as they lost their gods, and lost their immortality, there were fewer and fewer elders left alive to teach it. They forgot over generations. We now know that the reason they lost their immortality was because of Solas and the Veil.

If magic was genetic, it would not be possible for elves to lose their magic in this way, as long as they kept breeding with each other.

In real life magical and mystical traditions, magic knowledge is not something simply inherited or taught. Nor is it something revealed by scripture, etc. It is something *transmitted* (through initiation, practice, and experience).

So tracing a direct line of transmittion to respected and experienced elder mages is important to the legitimacy of the practice. The more ancient and unbroken the line, the better.

That magical talent would be concentrated in families, and especially the nobility, who kept such traditions....and that magical lineage would get wrapped up with blood lineage as mages traced their heritage back, makes sense.

Peasants or slaves who had magic manifest would likely be considered abominations, or demon possessed, or even mentally ill, if they had no means to learn about and develop their magic safely. Though self taught mages wouldn't be unheard of either, even if rare. They would have no legitimacy in the eyes of elite mages though, with no initiation or lineage.

Nor would they necessarily have any legitmacy with any nobility or ruling class, enough to be accepted into the kind of prestigious university-like circles Dorian describes. If the Tevinter elite don't bother to teach their slaves or peasants to read, why would they teach them magic either?

[Blood Mage Reaver]

Yes, Weekes said in another tweet part of that same conversation that it was a magickal process.

What makes one an elf isn't genetic, but there is a magical/spiritual/cultural component. Solas seems to confirm this view, in his convos with the elven Inquisitor.

David Gaider also explained once before that the reason elves lost their magic, was not because of mixing with humans, but because as they lost their gods, and lost their immortality, there were fewer and fewer elders left alive to teach it. They forgot over generations. We now know that the reason they lost their immortality was because of Solas and the Veil.

If magic was genetic, it would not be possible for elves to lose their magic in this way, as long as they kept breeding with each other.

In real life magical and mystical traditions, magic knowledge is not something simply inherited or taught. Nor is it something revealed by scripture, etc. It is something *transmitted* (through initiation, practice, and experience).

So tracing a direct line of transmittion to respected and experienced elder mages is important to the legitimacy of the practice. The more ancient and unbroken the line, the better.

That magical talent would be concentrated in families, and especially the nobility, who kept such traditions....and that magical lineage would get wrapped up with blood lineage as mages traced their hertiage back, makes sense.

Peasants or slaves who had magic manifest would likely be considered abominations, or demon possessed, or even mentally ill, if they had no means to learn about and develop their magic safely. Though self taught mages wouldn't be unheard of either, even if rare. They would have no legitimacy in the eyes of elite mages though, with no initiation or lineage.

Nor would they necessarily have any legitmacy with any nobility or ruling class, enough to be accepted into the kind of prestigious university-like circles Dorian describes. If the Tevinter elite don't bother to teach their slaves or peasants to read, why would they teach them magic either?

Solas said that immortality was a part of being Elven which was culled when he created the Veil, only those with an extremely deep connection who achieved Uthenera (like himself, the temple sentinels or Felassan) managed to keep themselves from aging and dying.

 

Given that the Fade and the material world were one once and that the Forbidden Ones are implied to have been ancient elfs who became demons after getting trapped by the Veil, it is not unfeasible that elfs at their conception were similar lifeforms to spirits only far more complex.

 

If a spirit gets trapped in the real world it will lose it's mind and shape unless it can possess a host or feed of a particular emotion, only in extremely rare cases can a spirit, by focusing on a more complex concept, reach a stable and definitive physical form.

 

While it's unknown if Cole will ever age or even develop more human needs such as eating or sleeping, I theorize that elfs, being much more emotionally dense than a Spirit of Compassion, quickly trasitioned into material beings which needed material sustainance.

 

That lost spiritual component which Solas deemed "tranquilized" on all beings seems to be the key difference from humans and elfs that shapes the latter different than the former.

 

The origins of humans and kossith, who apparently came into Thedas only after the Veil was formed, raises even more questions as to how these species came to be and how they existed previous to the Veil.

 

The kossith bear an uncanny resemblance to elves but extremely beefed up, one possible suggestion is that they descend from elf reavers banished from Arlathan after going crazy and mutating from the abuse of dragon blood.

 

Humans on the other hand are a complete mistery, the earliest accounts indicate that Southern human tribes moved into Thedas fleeing from extremely powerful demons while Northern human tribes had once build pyramids of unknown purpose and were attracted to settle in Thedas likely by the dreams communicating with the Old Gods.

 

Whatever we were before the Veil, we were constituted differently than elves on the spiritual level to the point that our nature overrode theirs whenever the two species interwined.

 

Solas describes humans as being brash and resoluted in their actions and decisions, maybe we are, if only by the tiniest fraction, more emotionally complex than elves and hence that spiritual part of ourselves when passed down to our children make them more "real" than elves thus manifesting their form as humans every time.

 

As to how that all contributes to the impact of bloodlines on magical ability, I'd say it works more or less the same as genetic mutation and transmission work in real life, made more complicated by the fact magic was natural to the make up of every living elf and possibly humans too before the Veil.

 

We have certain genetic and spiritual configurations which contribute towards magical ability, those can be increased in likeliness through selective breeding with mates of similar traits, however, the genetic and spiritual line of code which grants magical affinity surpassing Veil limits is so subtle that completely non-magical bloodlines can suddenly give birth to a mage through mutation and, more rarely, entirely magical bloodlines can suddenly give birth to someone without magic.

 

Suffice to say, given the artificial nature of the Veil and how it's strenght varies from place to place, the likelihood of someone being born as a mage probably depends on an enviromental factor besides and hereditary one. Sadly, we lack any sensus data of mages born before and after events that causes distortions in the Veil but if my assumptions hold true then the Breach will likely cause a massive spike of mages born after it.

[Sah291]

@Blood Mage Reaver,
That elves were once something closer to spirits pre-veil, with either completely non corporeal bodies, or semi corporeal bodies....seems likely.

That the Veil created a division between the spiritual realms and the material/physical plane, and a divide between mind and body, seems likely... But I'm not sure how literal the writers are going with it.

For instance, in Tresspasser, Spirit Cole says that the Veil isn't real... And he is delighted by this revelation.

So to me, that implies the Veil is just some kind of magical spell or barrier shielding people from seeing beyond it, but that anyone who realizes what it is can cross into it...in spirit, anyway.

For the Inquisitor to cross it, entering the fade physically, and for Solas to be so surprised by it, implies the Quizzy has somehow merged the physical and spiritual within themselves, overcoming the divide. I guess thanks to help from the anchor.

Solas is fascinated because that's what he wants to do when he drops the Veil.

[Medhia_Nox]

@Sah291:  I actually believe what Solas did... was a giant Rite of Tranquility. 

 

One of the earlier codexes by a Tevinter magister explain that the Veil is not a physical barrier... but more like having your eyes wide open. 

 

There is no "Veil" - you can't "tear it open" you can only "open people's minds". 

 

The reason Corypheus had to use Divine Justinia is simple.. the psychic shock of killing a person millions put their faith into will "open minds" to the Fear.  

 

This would mean that both the Fade and Thedas would not change at all (meaning that they would not "become one" whole thing)... but that everyone would have their minds open.  I'm still not convinced that this means everyone becomes a mage.  What I AM convinced of... is that everyone would be susceptible to possession and abomination. 

 

I believe only the Evanuris were spirits... and I believe Solas wants spirits to dominate Thedas like they did in the ancient past when all mortals were fair game. 

[Sah291]

@Medhia_Nox,
So a giant rite of tranquility? Yes! I think so too. It was the only way he could get rid of the Evanuris.
But just like reversing Tranquility can be a huge shock to a mage, so too would suddenly dropping the Veil on everyone.... Hence all the burning chaos he is expecting.

[Medhia_Nox]

@Sah291:  Don't mistake me though. I think dropping the Veil is a horrible... horrible idea. 

 

I believe that the "world before" was one where spiritual creatures preyed upon mortals... even elves.  

 

However, the elves... were property of the Evanuris.  The vallaslin were brands of ownership... and this could have afforded them protection from other spiritual creatures. 

 

It's so important to remember that we only hear about the "world before" from Solas' perspective... never from a dwarf or human (and there are indications that humans existed)

 

Far too little is known - but I do not believe this is out of the ream of consideration.  

[Sah291]

@Medhia_Nox,
It sounds like there have been both good and bad consequences, and Solas second guessed himself after befriending the Inquisiton. At first he was horrified and didn't care about plunging the world into chaos, but then got to appreciate the world as it is...and saw that people weren't just mindless tranquils as he thought before. This is a nice parallel to the mage rebellion, and their general treatment of the tranquil, leaving them behind since they couldn't fight, etc.

[Bayonet Hipshot]

@Sah291:  Don't mistake me though. I think dropping the Veil is a horrible... horrible idea. 

 

I believe that the "world before" was one where spiritual creatures preyed upon mortals... even elves.  

 

However, the elves... were property of the Evanuris.  The vallaslin were brands of ownership... and this could have afforded them protection from other spiritual creatures. 

 

It's so important to remember that we only hear about the "world before" from Solas' perspective... never from a dwarf or human (and there are indications that humans existed)

 

Far too little is known - but I do not believe this is out of the ream of consideration.  

 

But Spirit Sex would have been awesome !

[Medhia_Nox]

@Sah291:  Because I believe Solas may have created a Rite of Tranquility... I also believe that it's possible that mages aren't "random" - but rather a kind of exposure to spirits not dissimilar to the Seekers. 

 

We know Seekers are somehow made Tranquil... and then given their Seeker powers through being exposed to Faith spirits. 

 

If Solas wasn't just being hyperbolic... and the entire world IS in a state of pseudo-Tranquility... maybe random exposure to spirits to either the mother or the child creates mages? 

Yes, we know it runs in families... but it also springs up seemingly "out of nowhere" as well.  We know demons are always watching... maybe it doesn't actually "run in families" but because mages attract spirits... mage parents would have a high chance of exposing their children to spirits.  

 

Do I think this is where Bioware will go with it?  No. I don't.  But I like it... a lot.

 

@Bayonet Hipshot:  I think spirit sex would rely entirely on the spirit...

[Sah291]

@Medhia_Nox,
Interesting theory... If people have magic by default and Veil action simply blocks it...then spirits or demons hanging around families could turn it back on again. Or maybe it just happens sometimes that a child has an experience that triggers their ability somehow, say they experience something traumatic, or encounter a stray fade entity by chance, etc.

@Bayonet Hipshot, your spirit kink is not ok!

[Medhia_Nox]

@Sah291:  Everyone pre-veil was not a mage though... the ancient elves show that much.  

 

Are there ANY mages amongst the Sentinels?

[Sah291]

@Sah291:  Everyone pre-veil was not a mage though... the ancient elves show that much.  
 
Are there ANY mages amongst the Sentinels?

I don't know. But if magic was a natural and prevelent part of elven soceity, then "mage" doesn't really have much distinction, if everyone had some magic.

Might have something to do with their vallaslin though, if Solas is correct about it being slave markings. Some have speculated this was form of blood magic to bind them. Mages can still enslave other mages.. Which is one of the bad parts about the ancient elves the Dalish forgot.

[Medhia_Nox]

@Sah291:  My point is... IF mages were made in the way I'm suggesting... and nobody ever became Tranquil... then nobody could ever be a mage.

 

Where would magic come from among the elves?  The same place a Reaver gets it from... being bound to a spirit.  The only "mages" like we are familiar with... would be the Evanuris - which, I believe to be spirits.  

 

We see Abelas use "an ability" to try to destroy the Well of Sorrows... that doesn't make him a mage.  We see warrior and rogue Inquisitors use plenty of "abilities" - and he recognizes the "mark of magic" as familiar.  Interesting... mages don't have "marks of magic"... does he simply mean the glow?  Or... were elves "bound" to spirits in the past and that gave them magical power. 

 

Again.. this likely is just a mental exercise and would never play into Bioware's story... but, personally... I actually like this "twist" better than "everyone was mages".